Koah Puckermel
by STARZHEI
Summary: Not a pairing. When something terrible happens to Kurt, Puck thinks back to every moment he shared with his friend. May be slightly OCC, but I hope you enjoy it anyway. Companion pieces in the works for all the other New Directions members.


"I love your hair!"

Noah turned around and saw a small boy his age standing behind him with a giant smile on his face. Looking the boy over, he was wearing a small pair of blue cover-alls, his light brown hair was messy and he had a small grease stain on his cheek.

"You work here?" he asked the little boy.

"Yup!" I help my daddy out whenever I can, changing tires and that kind of stuff."

Noah looked at the boy strangely. His voice was high and he sounded like a girl. Noah knew the word for boys like that, but thought that it was mean to say it. So he just thought it.

"Cool" he shrugged his shoulders and then turned back around.

He didn't want to talk to one of _those_ boys, especially with his dad somewhere close. Speaking of his dad, Noah turned to look around to spot the man. Their truck had broken down and the two Puckerman men had pushed the vehicle towards the tire shop because they couldn't afford a tow truck.

They couldn't really afford much actually. His mom worked at a small café on the outskirts of Lima, so the gas money to and from work had taken up most of her pay anyway. They managed to get food on the table, though nothing gourmet, and the power and water bill paid each week.

His father was a musician and he played guitar and the drums in a band, 'The Badasses' which, Noah thought was totally badass. His father was badass, and he would be badass too. He would be just like his badass old man.

"Oh" the little boy said stepping in front of Noah, "Your dad is out back talking to my dad."

Noah looked at the boy strangely and nodded his head. They were probably talking about the payments for getting the car fixed.

"Cool" he replied again.

The little boy laughed and held his hand out.

"Im Kurt. Kurt Hummel."

Noah held out his clenched fist. This Kurt Hummel boy looked at the fist in confusion, conveying the look back to Noah who had to giggle (a manly giggle).

"Bump it" he answered.

"Oh" Kurt said still confused and slapped his opened hand into the closed fist.

Noah laughed out loud at that and shook his head, reaching out to close Kurt's hand into a fist.

"No, like this" he pushed his fist forward and knocked into Kurt's fist, "See?"

"OH!" Kurt's eyes lit up and he pulled his fist back and then thrust it forward to fist bump with Noah again, "That's weird!"

"_You're_ weird!" Noah replied immediately.

Kurt's face fell at that but he shook his head quickly and a small smile was back on his face. Noah was confused at the boys face but said nothing of it.

"So" Kurt said shyly, "What's your name?"

"Oh, Noah" he replied.

"Oh I like that name" Kurt said with a bigger smile this time, "Nice to meet you Noah."

"Thanks?" he said unsurely.

"Wanna go into my dads office? He wont mind, he lets me hang out in there all the time" Kurt asked heading towards said office.

Noah looked around but followed the boy eventually and they made their way into the office. It was small but had air-conditioning which was a welcomed relief from the hot summer heat out in the rest of the shop. Kurt walked to the fridge and pulled out two bottles of water and gave one to Noah.

"Thanks."

"No problem" Kurt beamed, "What school do you go to?"

"McKinley Elementary" Noah answered with a smirk, "I rule that school."

Kurt chuckled.

"I was hoping you would go to my school" he replied, "I just moved schools and I don't know anybody there."

"How come you changed schools?" Noah asked curiously.

Kurt's face fell again.

"Oh, I was getting picked on at my old school" he answered shyly.

Noah nodded. Honestly, he probably would have picked on the smaller boy if he had gone to his school. Noah picked on kids that were smaller than him because his friends thought it was cool. He didn't like it, but it made him cool at school to his friends, and that was everything.

"Sorry" he said quietly.

Kurt looked up at the boy and shook his head with a smile.

"Thank you, but it wasn't you, you wouldn't pick on me."

Noah took a long sip from his bottle of water at the sharp pain that stung him at Kurt's words. After swallowing, he scanned the room for something to say or talk about. Finally his eyes landed on a framed photograph of a pretty woman, a gruff looking man and a small boy with a giant smile. That was a safe subject to talk about.

"Is that your mom and dad?" he asked nodding to the photo.

Kurt snapped his head around and looked at the photo and went silent. Noah watched as the other boys high shoulders sunk. Damn it, he was screwing up left and right.

"Ye-yeah" Kurt said quietly, "She passed away last year."

Noahs heart fell at that. He couldn't even think about losing one of his parents.

"Sorry" he offered and in a rare act, patted the boy on the back.

Kurt tensed under the touch and Noah immediately dropped his arm, cursing at himself. He needed to cheer this boy up some way.

"Than=thank you" Kurt stuttered out brokenly.

Noah searched his mind for something to say or do, then remembered Kurt's first words to him.

"Hey, you said you liked my hair, right?"

Kurt turned around and smiled shyly at Noah.

"Yeah, I love curly hair" he replied.

Noah hated his hair. The brown locks that hung at just above his shoulders, he felt, were messy and annoying. They hung down off of his head in tight ringlets and his father encouraged him to keep it like that, long like his. Noah wanted to shave the thick hair off.

"I don't really like it, it's a JewFro" he chuckled at the nickname his aunt called him.

"I think its cute" Kurt said but then shook his head, "I mean, JewFro, that's a cute name for it."

Noah watched as the boy blushed and his eyes travelled with the color as it stretched across his face. He took in Kurt's rosy cheeks and slight dimples. Then his eyes locked with the weirdest but coolest shade of blue he had ever seen. Kurt's eyes were sparkling. Noah had to furrow his brows when he looked at Kurt's eyes. They looked scared, almost ashamed and he didn't know why.

Shaking his head, he shrugged it off.

"Yeah, my aunt June calls me that. But I hate my hair, I don't like the curls, its girly" he answered.

Kurt pushed his bangs out of his face and smiled timidly.

"I could, I could change it for you if you'd like?" he offered.

Noah quirked his eyebrow.

"How?"

Kurt got up off of the seat and ran over to his bag that was on top of a table in the corner. Rummaging through the bag, the small boy finally found what he was looking for and pulled out a weird looking long thing with a tangled up cord.

Kurt walked back to Noah and held the thing in front of him.

"I can straighten your hair if you want."

"What is this?" Noah asked fingering the flat metal surface.

"it's a hair straightener" Kurt replied with a smile, "It makes your curly hair straight. Want me to do yours?"

"I don't know" he replied cautiously.

"Come on, you said you didn't like your hair" Kurt replied waving the thing at him.

"Ok sure" Noah replied with a shrug.

Kurt looked happy and he had screwed their conversations up since they got into the office so he could do this for Kurt. Kurt smiled widely and walked over and plugged the utensil into the power socket. He pulled the chair over to the wall and patted the seat for Noah to sit in.

Kurt picked the machine up and tested the heat as he stood behind Noah.

"I wont burn you I promise" he smiled, but you might feel the heat though. Just try not to move when you do though ok?"

Noah nodded then felt fingers running around on his scalp. Kurt parted Noahs hair and somehow managed to tie the different sections without any hair ties. Soon Noah could feel Kurt grabbing at the different sections and then could feel heat radiating off of something.

"What's that?" he asked half way scared.

Kurt just giggled as he pulled the hot plates over Noahs curls in the back.

"it's the straightener doing its thing."

Kurt and Noah both fell silent for a good 10 minutes as Kurt worked on Noahs hair. Slowly, Noah could feel a silkiness against the skin of his neck and cheek as Kurt moved from the back and made his way in front of Noah.

"What's that smell?" he asked when he could smell something burning.

"Oh, its just your hair. I didn't have any serum to put in your hair so I had to do it dry, but it'll be fine. Now hold still, Im almost done."

Noah complied and sat still. Finally Kurt had finished and smiled as he placed the hot machine down on the arm of the chair and turned around to his bag again. Noah couldn't help but look down at the strange metal object and picked it up curiously. Unfortunately, he picked it up by the top half and let it go like it was on fire. Granted, it felt like it was on fire too…

"FUCK!" he hissed, shoving his burnt finger into his mouth and sucking on it.

Kurt came running back and picked the machine up off of the floor quickly.

"Oh my gosh, Im so sorry! I thought I turned it off!"

"Fucking asshole fucking bitch!" Noah cursed.

Kurt switched the machine off and pulled it out of the wall and set it down on the table before going back to Noah. Pulling the boys hand into his, he looked at the finger with a smile.

"It should be fine, no serious damage. Its just a surface burn.

"You said you wouldn't burn me!"

Noah pushed the boy in the shoulders and he tumbled back onto the ground. Kurt's eyes went wide and he scurried across the floor until he hit the back of the desk. Noah watched, his anger slipping away when Kurt climbed up the back of the desk and flipped himself over the top and landed behind it.

"Im sorry! You burnt yourself though!" he defended.

Noahs awe for the totally badass flip the boy just did vanished and his anger picked up again. Honestly, he didn't even know what he was angry at. He was burnt, and Kurt was there. And he was smaller.

"You burnt me you stupid little faggot! Getting me to let you touch my hair! Im not a girl like you are!" he spat.

Kurt began to tremble and he started crying.

"Im sorry!"

Noah sneered and kicked the chair over as he walked towards the door of the office.

"Whatever sissy! Don't talk to me ever again!"

Noah stormed out of the room, leaving the sobbing boy behind. He walked off to go find his dad who was standing at the counter with the gruff looking man from the photo on the wall. When he walked up to the two men, they both looked at him, the gruff man with a small smile on his face and his dad with a WTF look on his face.

"What happened to your hair son?" his dad asked him.

Noahs mouth fell open as he remembered Kurt doing his hair. He brought his hand up to stroke the thick fuzzy locks but found his fingers running through silky smooth straight hair.

The gruff man chuckled lightly.

"I take it you met Kurt?" he asked with a fond smile.

Noahs face fell again and he looked at the ground as he nodded.

"Yeah" he answered then looked up at his dad, "Can we go now?"

Mr. Puckerman nodded.

"Yeah, but we'll be back tomorrow. I gotta work off the payment by doing some hours here."

Noah watched as his dad shook hands with the other man and then they walked out of the garage. When they reached the door, Noah turned his head back to the office and his breathing hitched in his throat at what he saw.

Kurt stood inside the door, sitting in the chair that Noah had kicked over. Tears stained his rosy cheeks and a grimace of pain stretched across his face. Noahs eyes darted to the machine in Kurt's hands. Kurt held the machine just above the inside of his elbow and then pressed it into his skin.

Noah could tell the machine was hot because of the steam raising off of it. Noah watched in horror at the scene. Kurt was burning himself.

His dad pulled him out of the shop and the two made there way to the back of the shop to pick up the car. Once inside the truck, they headed off to their house, the only noise being the soft rock playing on the radio.

Noah flipped the sun visor down and looked in the small mirror. His eyes scanned over his straight brown hair. He had to admit he liked it straight rather than curly.

"Do you like my hair like this?" he asked turning to his dad.

His dad laughed and clapped him on the shoulder.

"Yeah, you look like a true rocker now" he replied with a smirk.

"Cool" Noah said looking back at his reflexion.

He tried to smile but it wouldn't show on his face. His dads words were music to his ears, and the sight in the mirror was extremely handsome, but he just couldn't smile. And he knew why.

He nodded to himself and flipped the visor back up. The next time his dad came to the garage, he would come and apologize to Kurt. He screwed it up and he needed to fix it.

-xOx-

Puck unfolded his arms and took a few steps towards the still body laying on the hospital mattress. Scanning the room, he thanked his lucky stars that everyone else were looking at each other of their phones or talking.

Lifting Kurt's left arm, Puck turned the limb around to the inner side and his breath hitched. His eyes roamed up and over the many deep scars covering the boys forearm. Some old, most new, but all heartbreaking. His eye roamed up more and stopped at a large patch of scar tissue. A light brown burn mark scarred his porcelain-like skin just above the crook of his inner elbow.

"Im sorry, I know I screwed up…again."

Everyone looked at him with a questioning look but then they saw the arm he held. They all collectively had to agree with Puck. They all collectively had to agree that they all had done that.


End file.
